1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for generating and reproducing an image file that includes a two-dimensional (2D) image and a three-dimensional (3D) stereoscopic image based on 2D image media standards. More particularly, the present invention relates to a file format capable of alternatively generating and reproducing a 2D image and a 3D stereoscopic image, and a system and a method for alternatively generating and reproducing a 2D image and a 3D stereoscopic image using the file format.
2. Description of the Related Art
File format standards used for storing 2D images are known in the art. In general, the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), which is an international standards organization in the field of multimedia, has published MPEG-2, MPEG-4, MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 standards, since its first standardization of MPEG-1 in 1988. Because a variety of standards have been developed, a need to generate one profile by combining different standard technologies has arisen. In response to this need, MPEG-A (MPEG Application: ISO/ICE 230000) multimedia application standardization activities have been carried out for storing and reproducing 2D images.
However, to date, a file format for storing a 3D stereoscopic image has not yet been standardized. Furthermore, a file format structure that includes both 2D and 3D stereoscopic images in a general portable terminal, or a system and a method for generating and reproducing such images using the structure of such file format has not yet been realized. This is important because when generating an image file in the form of a 3D stereoscopic image, a user cannot help but watch a non-3D stereoscopic image in the image file as a 3D stereoscopic image, so as to cause eyestrain on the user. Here, for example, such image may be an image in which the entire image is configured with characters.